Beauty Kings

A smart ass dude. A dumb himbo. A henpecked fiance.

These were the three main contenders for our votes on a night of flesh and flex. In true Dick Lee fashion, one can expect a play with the glitz and glamour that was as entertaining as ever (though without song and dance), with hilarious dialogues that had me and many others laughing out loud, if not roaring with laughter. And as Jeremy mentioned, these were mostly delivered by Don, the himbo who seemed so unaware and blur about everything, that it was unbelievable. And it did become a bit too incredible that someone can be so clueless as to not understand some things.

The show actually started pretty promising with an opening scene where Gary (a contestant) strips nude, ending with a suggestive note, 5 years ago. But he committed suicide following an involvement in a scandal related to the pageant then. Adam (Rodney Oliveiro), a journalist who takes part in the pageant, is his brother, who comes to find out the truth behind Gary’s suicide and dig into the “dirt” of what actually goes on behind the scenes. Were the organisers the one who drove Gary to suicide? Can he find anything to expose them, if matters were as what was rumoured? Unfortunately, the suspense behind what happened to Gary wasn’t sustained as the play went on, which became more like an afterthought; it wasn’t developed deep enough.

Another point was that I felt that having the contestants to represent “districts” wasn’t really necessary. Maybe I was too sensitve, but it felt a little contrived, included just for the sake of making reference to the recent general election, which somehow didn’t work here. I didn’t really see a major correlation of the districts with the contestants. I felt maybe that could make for something, but probably it might asking a bit too much in this context, given so many things to work on, and to keep things light.

I believe the biggest twist came was regarding Don’s person, but I shan’t reveal it here, yet, at least not until the show’s over. Don’t want to spoil it for those who’ve yet to watch it. Anyway, my friends and I found it rather impossible for something like that to happen. Too exaggerated! Also, as a friend pointed out, why would Adam go verify it for no rhyme or reason? That wasn’t his focus or scoop he was looking for. The only thing I can think of would be that maybe they wanted to create some form of irony if Don won, that the winner of Mr. Man was not what he seems to be.  But if Don didn’t win, this theory would fall through.

Talking of which, the winner for my night, was Don. We had expected more drama, like maybe Adam exposing the truth behind Don or something, but unfortunately, the ending was all glossed over. Maybe due to the lack of time. And all I can say is that both my friend and I had this response to the ending — “you mean that’s it??” — leaving us “high and dry” for a more impactful end. Heard Jeremy also had the same results for his night.

Just in case you’re wondering if all nights have the same ending, I had another friend who caught a night when Benny won. Heard it was also kinda rushed and concluded just like that. Pity. Wonder how it would be like if Adam had won? For one thing, the final conclusion of Adam not having any scoop on the contest, but with new plans for a cover story of the upcoming presidential elections didn’t quite cut it, nor the Kate Spade joke.

I guess we shouldn’t analyse too much over the show and enjoy it purely for its entertainment value. Just relax and enjoy the eye candy (oops, did I just say that? :P).